Today is my last day at io9 and Gizmodo. It’s been a long, astounding road, to say the least. I founded io9 back in 2008, and I watched it journey from the farthest reaches of space to its current home under this atmosphere bubble on Ceres.

Two weeks ago, we surveyed 3,670 people online about how they communicate. We discovered a remarkable difference between people over 41, who say they often talk on email more than they do in real life, and younger people who love in-person meetings and use a variety of apps. Is this our first digital generation gap?

Water bears, known to scientists as tardigrades, are famously adorable microscopic creatures who can survive anything: freezing, total dehydration, radiation bombardment, and even the vacuum of deep space. Now scientists have sequenced a tardigrade genome, and are very surprised by the results.

It’s been an amazing week of secret histories on Gizmodo, and we wanted to finish up by sharing our own secret histories. Apparently, the family histories of Gizmodo staffers are full of criminal acts, shenanigans, and hanky panky. So it’s confession time ...

Well, OK, it’s not the kind of dongle you’d expect. The paperback sticky note is a pad of paper that sticks to the back of your iPhone 6, allowing you to (gasp) use your phone as an actual, real notepad as well as a computer.

You’ve heard the official histories of your country, your computers, and your shoes. But do you know what really happened? Join us for a week of secret histories at io9 and Gizmodo, where we reveal the truth behind the half-lies you’ve been told.

In this gorgeous concept art, Karl Ellis gives us a peek at a world that is almost like Earth, but not quite. At the base of that gravity-defying rock column, you can see the glowing cave mouths where someone is settling in for a peaceful evening.

A recent survey from Pew Research found that 18-34 year-olds are living with their parents for much longer than any generation since the 1960s. 43% of men and 37% of women in this age group are living at home. Commentators on last night’s PBS News Hour called it “the new normal.” But it’s actually the same old normal.…

A group of scientists wanted to find the most effective mosquito repellents. So they tested 10 different substances, including campout standbys like DEET, as well as a random choice: Victoria’s Secret perfume Bombshell. Turns out the perfume is almost as good as DEET.

Biotech visionary and entrepreneur Craig Venter, famous for inventing a technique to sequence his own genome back in the 1990s, has embarked on a new venture. For $25,000, his startup Human Longevity will give you every possible futuristic medical test, potentially revealing your risk for Alzheimer’s.

Facebook is looking down the barrel of a future advertising crisis, so it’s trying to think up new ways to put “buy now” links in front of your peepers. The company’s top brass believe the answers will come from Instagram, Whatsapp, and video.

There’s a lot of uncertainty about the future of women and minorities in the tech industry, but I think there’s one thing we can all agree on. This documentary about young women competing to win a Google prize for their apps is pretty damn uplifting.